What do Rosa Parks and Azmi Jubran have in common? They both took on an injustice that seemed insurmountable, they stayed for the long haul, and they ended up victorious.

On October 24, 2005, Rosa Parks died at the age of 92 with news stories trumpeting her courageous story around the globe. However, almost 50 years earlier, Mrs. Parks, a quiet and shy seamstress, was unknown to most everyone.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a White man on the Montgomery Bus Company in Alabama. While most of the riders were Black, the policy of the bus company was to reserve the first four rows for Whites. When the driver, James Blake, demanded that the four Black people sitting in the centre rows give up their seat for one White man, three people complied, but Rosa Parks refused to move.

The police were called and a few days later she was found guilty of violating segregation laws. In response to that event, on December 5th the Montgomery Improvement Association instituted a boycott by Blacks of the bus system. It was expected to last a few days, but lasted more than a year. After winding its way through the courts, on November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated public buses in nine states were unconstitutional. Despite a year of tired feet and hard resolve, the boycott did not end until December 21st when the paper work was returned from the Supreme Court.

That single act of defiance by Mrs. Parks and the subsequent legal victory was a catalyst for the expansion of the Civil Rights Movement and the hard fought gains that followed. There are many people who said the action of Mrs. Parks was part of a well-orchestrated campaign. While she was volunteering to get more Black people to register to vote, on that day, she was just trying to rush home from her job to prepare for some volunteer work that weekend. When asked how she was able to take her stand, she replied, “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

Rosa Parks’ act of staying seated didn’t come with a speaking tour and celebrity status. After the victory was won over the Montgomery Bus Company, Mrs. Parks and her husband moved to Virginia and then Detroit as she wasn’t able to find work as a seamstress in Montgomery. She carried on as a seamstress until an American Congressman hired her as an aide in 1965.

On October 20, 2005, just days before the death of Rosa Parks, Canada’s Supreme Court put an end to a long-fought battle against harassment and discrimination at a North Vancouver school. Azmi Jubran was a student at Handsworth Secondary School in North Vancouver from 1993 until 1998. During that time he endured constant taunting, slurs and even physical assaults. While Jubran isn’t gay, some students made his life miserable by taunting him with comments such as “homo” and “faggot.”

On June 19, 1996, Jubran began his legal fight by filing a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Commission against the North Vancouver School Board, saying they discriminated against him by allowing the harassment to take place. That process alone took years, with a ruling in his favour in April, 2002. The school board was acknowledged for trying to take appropriate action, but the human rights adjudicator said it wasn’t enough and the school board allowed a discriminatory educational environment to take place. They were ordered to put an end to the any further harassing actions and to pay Mr. Jubran $4,000.

But that was just the first step. The school board appealed and won at the B.C. Supreme Court. On January 2, 2003, Justice Stewart overturned the decision saying that since Mr. Jubran wasn’t homosexual and the students taunting him really didn’t think he was homosexual, he should not be given protection based on sexual orientation as per the Code. Hence, there was no real (that is, legal) discrimination.

But Mr. Jubran and the Human Rights Tribunal appealed to the B.C. Court of Appeal and the decision turned again, this time ruling in favour of Mr. Jubran and against the School Board. Instead of reading human rights legislation narrowly, the judges on the court of appeal said it should always be interpreted broadly. It didn’t matter that Jubran was not gay. His rights were denied and the school board is liable for allowing this harassment to have taken place without proper action.

The School Board appealed to Canada’s top court. However, when the Supreme Court of Canada announced last week that they had refused to hear the appeal, Mr. Jubran’s victory prevailed. It was a long and drawn out process, which ended 12 years after the first taunts began.

Azmi Jubran is now 25 years old, with a better understanding of the legal process than most people. For employers, his case told us that liability continues to expand and therefore every supervisor and employer must do everything possible to ensure they have a harassment-free and discrimination-free workplace. For Canadians generally, this case lets us know that human rights legislation is not going to be won or lost on technicalities. Regardless of a person’s sexual orientation, taunts and slurs will not be tolerated. This rationale should apply to all categories in which we find human rights protection.

I’m sure that Azmi Jubran did not want to stand out and reveal all the horrible things that happened to him. I’m guessing he just wanted to go to school without knots in his stomach. Instead, due to improper attention by his school, he became a reluctant hero for all those who want to stand up to bullies and those who allow the bullying to take place.

Both Rosa Parks and Azmi Jubran stood up to injustices for which they paid a price. If they can do it, so can the rest of us.

Stephen

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Stephen Hammond, B.A, LL.B, CSP, is a speaker, trainer and author working in the field of workplace human rights. Articles, tips and his books Managing Human Rights At Work: 101 Practical Tips to Prevent Human Rights Disasters and Steps in the Rights Direction: 365 human rights celebrations and tragedies that inspired Canada and the world are available on his website www.stephenhammond.ca. Contact Stephen at 866-685-8338 or stephen@stephenhammond.ca